After teaching the tycoons in Jilong Village how to use a comb, and how to build a simple earth-rock wall, Kong Tai urged Columbus to turn around and return. After all, Marin was still waiting for their news. Before leaving, Kong Tai also left a batch of silver and money for Liu Laogen to purchase supplies.
Although Liu Laogen led the villagers of Jilong Village to Keelung to reclaim the land, there were no basic daily necessities on Tai Island, not even needles and threads, let alone iron farm tools and so on. Therefore, sometimes, Liu Laogen and others would secretly drive small fishing boats to the coast of Daming to purchase supplies.
However, there is a Pinghaiwei along the coast of Putian County, which is specially designed to guard against sea threats. Therefore, the fishing boats in Jilong Village must avoid the cruise of the Pinghaiwei warships. Otherwise, if they are caught, the officers and soldiers of the Pinghaiwei will not be polite to them.
Therefore, even if you secretly drive a fishing boat back to the mainland for purchases, the fishing boats in Jilong Village cannot get close to the land and cannot return to the original place of Xiao Liuzhuang, although there are many acquaintances there.
Later, the people in Jilong Village discovered an important phenomenon - that is, Pinghaiwei's patrol fleet generally does not go out to sea during major festivals. For example, during festivals such as New Year, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival, Pinghaiwei's patrol ships generally do not go out to sea. After all, those soldiers also have to celebrate the festival.
In this way, the fishing boats in Jilong Village have the opportunity to purchase. However, they dare not approach the land and can only choose coastal islands that are also islands to dock and then trade with the locals.
Of course, the villagers in Jilong Village had no goods to exchange for money before. Jilong Village mainly relies on farming and fishing for a living. In addition, they can cook some private salt. To cook private salt in the Ming Dynasty, cooking private salt would have to go to jail. After all, the Ming Dynasty court monopolized the salt trade, and the private people dared to intervene and arrested them decisively...
But on Keelung Sheliao Island, that's different. There are no officers and soldiers here, so everyone can cook salt at will without worrying about lawsuits. Moreover, the people in Jilong Village used to trade with the French people on the main island. The indigenous people on Tai Island did not know how to cook salt, so they naturally welcomed the salt cooked by the villagers in Jilong Village. The goods exchanged by the French people on the island were mainly deer skin, venison and wood.
When sneaking back to the islands on the mainland for trade, the people in Jilong Village also used deer skin exchanged from the French people. As for salt, they dare not use it for trade. Because once it is discovered, it is definitely a serious crime. Even if they dare to sell it, the people on the island may not dare to buy it.
The trade target chosen by Jilong Village is the fishermen on Meizhou Island, Putian County...
Speaking of which, although the Ming Dynasty did not implement the abnormal movement of the sea like in the early Qing Dynasty, it generally prohibited fishermen from going out to sea to fish. However, the Ming Dynasty banned sailboats from going out to sea, but it did not prohibit small fishing boats with manpower paddlings. Because such small fishing boats cannot leave the sea. Even if they leave the sea, they will die for a lifetime. Therefore, the fishermen on the coast basically used small fishing boats to fish along the coastline. Meizhou Island is one of the islands where fishermen are concentrated.
Moreover, Meizhou Island has a very large origin because it is Mazu's hometown. On the island, there is also a Tianhou Temple specially built for Mazu.
Mazu is the patron saint of Hu Jian's coastal coast, so Meizhou Island is small, but it is a relatively popular island along the coast. Because, every year, many people outside the island come to Meizhou Island to visit Mazu. This also leads to Meizhou Island having more contact with the outside world and it is easier to obtain external goods. Nanri Island, which is also an island, is not far from Meizhou Island and is even larger, because it is not very popular, even merchants are unwilling to go. Therefore, if you want to purchase goods, you have to go to a popular island like Meizhou Island.
Before, the strong man from Jilong Village had sailed a sloop sailboat to Nanri Island to purchase. Although he avoided Pinghaiwei's ship, he didn't buy anything. Moreover, no one took the deer skin they brought.
Later, the villagers of Jilong Island went to Meizhou Island and finally found a merchant who was willing to buy deer skin. They also purchased agricultural tools and various daily necessities from the merchant.
However, in order to avoid the defenders of Pinghaiwei, such opportunities are only a few times a year, and they are all taken during major festivals. If they are caught by Pinghaiwei's patrol ships, the confiscation of goods will be light and people may be thrown into prison...
However, before, only the merchants on Meizhou Island were willing to buy their goods and sell them. Therefore, their deer skin could not be sold at a price, while the goods provided to them were at a higher price.
For example, the price of a deer skin in the Ming Dynasty was more than 400 yuan. However, Lin Baiwan, a tycoon of Meizhou Island, was only willing to give a purchase price of 40 yuan per piece, which was so bad that it was so bad that it was...
On the other hand, when Lin Baiwan sells things to the villagers of Jilong Village, it is double the price. For example, a pot of iron is only 80 yuan in the Ming Dynasty, but Lin Baiwan sells them for 160 yuan. A piece of white cloth is 200 yuan in the Ming Dynasty, but Lin Baiwan dares to sell them for 400 yuan... But the people in Jilong Village can only recognize it... because no one is willing to trade with them...
Only Lin Baiwan from Meizhou Island has a relatively wild path and dares to acquire their deer skin. If someone else comes, they may not dare to accept it. Because the source of the deer skin is unclear...
It should be pointed out that in this era, there were sika deer everywhere, with an estimated total of millions. Later, when the Dutch colonized Taiwan, the East India Company was able to purchase 400,000 deer skins from the indigenous people every year and sell them to Japan.
The indigenous people on the island have many deer. Moreover, after hunting a deer, they can get hundreds of kilograms of meat, which is enough for many people to eat. Therefore, the indigenous people are not very concerned about developing agriculture. Since they can hunt prey with hundreds of kilograms of meat, why do they work hard to farm? Therefore, even if there is agriculture on the island, the Pingpu natives who engage in agriculture are just slash-and-burn farming. For them, venison is the staple food, and as for food, it is to change the taste...
In fact, the villagers of Jilong Village were also hoping to resell the deer skin on Taiwan Island to make a fortune. But reality gave them a blow - ordinary coastal merchants did not dare to buy their deer skin at all because the origin was unclear... Lin Baiwan, who dared to buy their deer skin, desperately suppressed the price...
So, although they brought a lot of deer skin to Meizhou Island for trading every time, they couldn't get much goods back...
In addition, the villagers of Jilong Village do not have large ships, nor do they have craftsmen who know how to build large ships...
Just so happened that after Kong Tai helped them defeat the group of Japanese pirates this time, a Japanese ship that could carry dozens of people was left directly to them by Kong Tai.
After Columbus' fleet left, some people gathered around and said:
"Uncle Lao Gen, do we really want to surrender to these ghosts? Now, with this big ship, we can do a bigger trade, so there is no need to surrender to these ghosts!"
Indeed, before, fishermen from Jilong Village went to Meizhou Island to trade, they could only drive small boats of paddlings. Not only were they dangerous, they could only carry hundreds of deer skins, and were slaughtered by Lin Baiwan.
With this Japanese ship carrying dozens of tons, the villagers of Jilong Village can drive this big ship to find a more suitable trading location and trade. At least, it is much better than being slaughtered by Lin Baiwan.
Liu Laogen shook his head and said:
"You guys, you're not thinking about it. Indeed, we have a boat, and we can do bigger deals. But have you ever thought about it? This time, any Japanese ship will almost destroy our entire village. Therefore, our village needs protection!"
"These ghosts said that they will send people to occupy this island next year. When they come, we can't stop them!"
"What should we do? Why don't we go back to the Ming Dynasty?" The people next to him became anxious.
"Go back?" Liu Laogen sneered and then said:
"Arong, do you know that our Xiao Liuzhuang land has long been occupied. Our household registration has long been disposal. If we go back now, we will not only not be able to get the land back, but we will also be arrested as fugitives. Therefore, we cannot go back. Unless you are willing to go back to jail."
The Ming Dynasty's household registration system was very strict, and people were strictly prohibited from leaving the county. If there was something wrong, there must be a road guide issued by the county government. Otherwise, they would be imprisoned. After the villagers of Jilong Village escaped from their hometown, Xiaoliuzhuang, and their household registration and land would definitely be lost because they did not return for a few years. And the local tyrants must be the local tyrants. When they go back now, in order to preserve the land, they will definitely report them and arrest them in prison.
"Then we can only rely on those ghosts?"
"Yes!" Liu Laogen nodded and said:
"Those ghosts look pretty good, at least they are very reasonable. However, ghosts are definitely not good people. I think that they keep us and don't even charge taxes. I guess they want to use us to help them do things..."
"Doing things? What can we do to help the ghosts?" The villagers were very curious.
Liu Laogen pointed his hand south and said:
"Do you deal with those foreigners! I understand the local language of foreigners, which is most suitable for those foreigners. I think that these foreigners may have the ambition to annex Dongfan Island, otherwise, there is no need to win over us a group of mud-legged people... So, children, if you want to do well in the future, come and learn the local language of foreigners from me. As long as you learn the local language of foreigners well, some people will be able to be used by foreigners in the future..."
"If you learn the local dialect of the foreigners, you can live a good life?" the young man in the village asked disbelief.
"Of course, since those monsters want to annex Dongfan Island, they must know the translation of Fanmin local dialect. Otherwise, even if they conquer Dongfan Island, how to manage it?"
"So that's it..." Everyone suddenly realized. You must know that Liu Laogen is the only "cultural person" in Jilong Village who has read books, and his knowledge is naturally higher than everyone else.
In fact, when I was in Xiao Liuzhuang, there was not only Liu Laogen, a scholar in the village, but also a scholar and a Tongsheng. But when the flood was flooding, both scholars went to the county town to take care of their relatives and did not flee to Jilong Village. Therefore, the only "brain" in the village was naturally Liu Laogen, and everyone was convinced of him.
"Okay, just go back if you have nothing to do. From tomorrow on, all the smart kids in the village will come to learn Mandarin and Fanmin dialect from me, so that they can be translated into those Fanji in the future..."
"Why do you still have to learn Mandarin?" A group of young people looked bitter.
Chapter completed!